The Things That Define Us
by The ULTIMATE catchphrase
Summary: Demigod life is never normal. That became apparent a long time ago. A Collection of PJO Oneshots/Drabbles. Open for suggestions. Chapter 3 up: It's that time of the year every camper dreads the most. Closing Day.
1. Left Behind

**GAH! SORRY! Ghhh…Just let me justify myself, and then you can kill me painfully. **

**I've been TRYING to write Son of Neptune, but my idea bunny has run off in pursuit of a carrot truck. But two new oneshot bunnies have hopped onto my desk, so I will make a collection or Oneshots/drabbles! So…TADA!**

**Okay, you can kill me now. Ready you pitch forks. **

**Okay.**

**Ready.**

**Aim.**

**FI—Hey wait! STOP! HOLD IT! If you kill me…I WON'T BE ABLE TO WRITE SoN! HAHA! You must keep me alive! That's it…put down your deadly projectiles…go on…**

**Okay, I shall now stop my pointless attempt at subtle (Ha…ha. That's a good one…subtle.) humor. READ ON MY FRIENDS!**

_Left Behind_

There he goes, yet another boy to add to her ever growing collection of forbidden loves.

She hated it with every fiber of her being. Hated this island, hated the fates, hated _love, _but most of all hated _them. Every single on of those gods damn Heroes!_

Or, at least, she wished she did.

That would make it so much easier on her, wouldn't it? To pretend they had all been soulless jerks who didn't deserve her unconditional love. That they had she had sent them all away. That they never loved her anyway, so why bother?

Of course, that was never the case.

No, they all had to be so _nice_, and _brave_, and _compassionate_, and _handsome_, and _loveable!_ They all wanted to _help her._ To _stay with her._ They love her, they promise, they really do! But alas, they cannot accept her eternal companionship. They all have lives, jobs to do, destinies to fill! More important things to do then love her like she wants them to. She would like to say she's used to it by now. In fact, she _should_ be used to it by now. This has been going on for how many years now? She lost track millennia ago. She should be hard, tough as nails! She should be used to having her heart stamped into a _thousand tiny little insignificant pieces!_

But she isn't, and she just can't figure out why. As hard as she tries to not let them see it, each time is even worse them the first, mostly because she knows that it was bound to happen anyway. This time especially.

He had been to kind, so pure, so brave. And for a few blissful moments, she had really thought he was going to stay! To be truthful, she had laid it on a little thick. He could never age, escape his destiny! She _knew_ the fate of the world rested on his skinny shoulders, and she had foolishly hoped he could escape that. That Thalia girl had found a loophole, so why couldn't Percy? Let that Hades kid (what was his name—Nikki? Hermes must of told her _some _time) deal with the fate of the world! Couldn't she experience a little happiness for once?

Walking along the beach, back to her lovely, lonely garden, Calypso scolded herself for thinking such selfish thoughts. Each and every one of those amazing Heroes had a terrible destiny, just as she has to put up with for all eternity.

Like it or not, she is and always will be destined to a life of being _left behind. _

**Hah ha! FINISHED! I'm not quite sure what this is…too short to be a oneshot…Nevertheless, a sequel soon!**

**~The ULTIMATE Catchphrase~**


	2. Slipping

**Uh…heh…please…don't…kill…me. That's it…nice readers…you don't want to kill me…I- *dodges a spear* HOLYSHITMOTHEROFGODALMIGHTY INTHE SKYDON'THURTME! *runs away screaming, an angry mob of readers chasing her down with pitchforks.***

**Woah…first time I've really cursed (here at least). That's how sorry I am… (Does that make sense?) I'm back from the dead, with an extremely angsty Leo-centric oneshot. I know, I know. AGAIN? My muse is horribly dark and mean to Leo, huh? I should probably also be writing SoN and Help, I'm just not…motivated. Right now, I'll probably be updating this like mad, because so much STUFF has popped into my mind while I was at camp. *grins devilishly* Also, sorry if I curse more than usual…living in the middle of nowhere for three and a half weeks cut off from technology and civilization does strange things to ya, man.**

**And now, for a slice of delightful teenage ANGST. **

_Slipping_

Leo knows his place. The people around him make it clear enough.

He's he sidekick, the comic relief, the third wheel, the doormat. They use him, walk all over him, then expect him to jump up with a smile and be eager to help with what ever they need, as if it were his job, his obligation.

And in some ways, it is.

He's a prophecy child, destined to save the world and all that other bullshit that just makes him want to puke all over the floor. But then again, he is one of many, isn't he? He doesn't see Piper and Jason slaving away, working countless hours, losing sleep and yet, still being under appreciated! No, they frolic around camp, free to do whatever; getting praise for every breath they take. All the little campers worship them. They want to be just like them when they grow up to be big bad heroes! Could you really blame Leo for being jealous as he sits on the sidelines, completely unacknowledged? (Or at least, so he thinks)

Not to mention the thousand tons of pressure sitting on his chest. He doesn't know if he can do this. He isn't meant for the spotlight, and he hates having everyone depending on him. One screw up and it's all over.

Not that he doesn't love working on the ship, because he does. That thing is his freaking baby, the one thing that's truly his, his whole destiny. Believe it or not, he actually enjoys himself for once, as he pours over blueprints night after night. To be honest, the Bunker is his hideaway, the one place where he could forget about everything, and finally have some control over something. (Because he sure as hell didn't have any when it came to his life)

And thus, he buries himself in work, hardly coming out of the Bunker for anything, even meals. He tells himself that he can handle the pressure. And, oddly enough, the only one who seems to notice anything wrong is Nyssa. She watches in muted horror as the happy-go-lucky guy Leo had once been begins to disappear under mounds of blueprints and scrap metal. And when she does see him out and about, he carries on as if nothing is wrong, cracking jokes and generally annoying the crap out of everyone, just like he normally does.

She often wonders if she's the only one who sees right through his façade.

But she's afraid that if she presses him, he'll snap, and she'll lose him forever.

She doesn't want that,

Nyssa still remembers how he had been on that first day, cheerful and unbreakable, cracking jokes and messing around. What the hell ever happened to that kid? Nyssa had respect for that kid. Nyssa _knew _that kid (or at least, knew him better than most). Nyssa _loved _that kid (He was the annoying little brother she never had)

But, most of all, Nyssa _misses, _that kid.

That kid was the real Leo Valdez.

Who had sucked all the color out of him? Who dared to make Leo feel so unhappy and unimportant?

She knew who it was, and she had no words to defend herself, or the rest of camp.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

It was almost diner time, and the majority of the Hephaestus can had already closed up shop, going off to enjoy the rest of her evening. All except for one.

As usual, Leo Valdez sat at a desk in the far corner of the bunker, still scribbling away.

Nyssa stared at him for a moment, torn. After a few moments of self-pep talk, Nyssa gathered all the courage she could possibly muster, and made her way over to Leo.

She imagined as if she were approaching some dangerous animal, which could eat her head at any moment. _Warning: Proceed with caution._

Tentatively, she tapped his shoulder, as he appeared to have not noticed her standing there. His pencil froze, and he turned to look at Nyssa over his shoulder. His face cracked into a grin, but it was tired and void of warmth.

"Hey, 'sis. What's up?" He sounded so…normal. Nyssa almost thought twice.

_Almost._

"Nothing' much," she replied, as casually as she could. "But, uh…are you planning to go to dinner, or you just going to stay here…again?"

His face fell for a millisecond (he obviously believed no one had noticed), before zipping straight back into a lopsided smile. "Oh, that? Pfft, yeah, I was just wrapping up here." He stood abruptly from his chair, making the metal legs shriek as they scraped against the floor. He hastily rolled the paper up, shoving it onto one of the shelves. He turned back to her, still grinning, but Nyssa's face was grim.

"Were you really planning on it, Leo?" She pursed her lips. His smile melted.

"Whadda ya mean?" He seemed genuinely confused.

_Damn, this guy is a good actor._

Sighing, Nyssa pulled up a chair, and sank down in it.

"Leo, I'm worried about you," She blurted, blunt as can be. "You've been skipping meals, activities, hardly coming out of this stupid bunker. You hardly talk to us anymore. I just want to know what the hell is going on with you. It's just…not healthy."

He blinked, looking like a corned animal.

"I don't know what you—"

"Don't give me that shit, Valdez. I'm not blind. I can see that you're hurting."

Silence.

For a moment, Nyssa wondered if she had blown it. Leo raked a hand through his unruly black curls, leaning against a wall, his eyes dark and far-away.

"I've uh…just been kinda stressed lately, with the whole 'you–must-be-done-in-an-impossibly-short-amount-of time-and-save-us-or-we-die' thing,"

"That's not all, I can tell," Nyssa whispered. She can tell by the look on his face that she was entering dangerous territory, but she didn't care. She was gonna get through to him, even if it meant getting him angry.

"You…wouldn't understand…" he muttered, turning away from her. He seemed to have aged ten years, shoulders slumped, hands in his pockets. Nyssa got up from her chair, turning him around.

"I _would, _Leo. I don't see why you don't get that. You act like I don't get what you're going through."

Leo stood there for a moment, silence dragging on painfully. Suddenly, with a great shout of frustration, he kicked the metal chair he had been sitting in across the room, landing with a metallic _clang._ He wanted to hit something. He wanted to punch, scream kick, cry, just let himself go wild, and have a temper tantrum like some five-year-old who didn't get a cookie. She thought she knew? She wasn't the one who everyone was counting on, day in and day out! It was driving him insane!

"You think you—" he stopped himself before he let anything slip. "Y'know what…I'll…I'll see you later." And with that, he ran off into the woods, intent on blowing some serious steam, reading to chop the living crap out of whatever monster can into his path.

And Nyssa let him go.

_He needs this._ She thought as she walked to dinner. _He needs some time to just go nuts._

"Where's Leo?" Jake asked as Nyssa took a seat at the Hephaestus table. The rest of the kids looked at her expectantly, their eyes full of concern.

"He's…" she struggled for the right words.

"Skipping again." Jake muttered, his eyes dark. It wasn't a question. Everyone's faces fell as Nyssa nodded sadly.

"Yeah," Jake raised his eyebrows.

"You let him?" he questioned. "I thought for sure you were going to whoop his ass until he came out and ate a proper meal."

"I was gonna…but…" she lowered her voice, not wanting to alarm the other campers. "He needs this, Jake. He's…under a lot of pressure. He's not at the Bunker right now, I'll tell you that."

At this point, they both knew one thing: Leo Valdez was slipping, and it was their job to keep him from falling over the edge.

**Well, that was delightfully dark and slightly cliché wasn't it? Eh, oh well. It's four freaking pages on word. WOW. This took a long time, so I hope it's good. The next TTDU will not be as angsty as the first. Maybe some light, mushy, Percebeth Fluff? I dunno. **

**Till next time,**

**The ULTIMATE Catchphrase. **


	3. Closing Day

**Hey guys! This was a contest submission for Rise of Heroes group on deviantart. I decided I might as well post it here! OC's you need to know:**

**Micah Reed (referred to as Reed)- He'll be used a lot in later one-shots**

**Elaney Balm (reffered to as Ella)- She'll also be used often**

**Remy Sole- She wasn't in this much, but she will be. She's Reed's girlfriend! What would there couple name be? **

**Andrew Reed- Not mine, sadly. He's Threeskies' on deviantart. Don't know if she has an account here.**

**Takes place in the Hermes cabin, then on Half-blood hill.**

Here it was. The time of year Ella was dreading. The time _everyone_ was dreading.

Closing day.

Groaning, she flopped back down on her bed, not wanting to pack the rest of her stuff into her bags. If she did, it would be like admitting that it was really over. She'd have to go back to reality.

Not that she had anything against reality. But, reality was just so…real. She didn't know about the rest of the camp, but she did _not _want to have to deal with her real world problems. Weren't the monsters enough? She sat up, pulled her mane of curls into a pony, and then moodily shoving her stuff into her bags, save for a few important things. She then popped the mattress off the bunk and dragged it to the middle of the floor. The Hermes cabin had agreed that their last night together would be a sort of normal sleepover. At least, the girls had. When Ella asked Reed to join earlier, he had replied:

"I'm a man, Ells. Manly men do not participate in such girly affairs," then smartly hurried away before she could pounce on all the ways that comment could backfire.

She laughed at the memory, and then proceeded to smooth her blankets over the mattress, so that they were crisp and perfect.

"I see someone's still as OCD as ever," said an annoyingly familiar voice. She turned around to see Reed's scarred face grinning at her mischievously, a mattress clasped in his good hand. She threw her pillow at his face.

"I am not OCD! That's Remy," He nodded, like, 'good point'. "Besides, I thought you weren't participating in "such girly affairs."" She made quotation marks in the air with her fingers. He sighed dramatically and pulled his mattress next to hers, before flopping down on it in a flurry of blankets and limbs.

"Well, it's my last night, so I figured I might as well spend it with my favorite little sister." He ruffled her already messy curls. She stuck her tongue out. "…And our plans fell through. Chiron found out about them."

"I knew there was a catch," she muttered, shaking her head.

"There's always a catch, my dear,"

"Alright everyone," another one of the older campers, Andrew Reed (he was Reed's cousin, which made things a little awkward between them) "It's time to get this… er, what are you girls calling it?"

"Sleepover-palooza!" they all sang in unison, enjoying ever minute on the boys' awkwardness.

"Um, right…well, it's time to get started!" he sat down on his mattress. "Any ideas?" Slowly, the Stoll brothers raised their hands. Probably not a good thing. Scratch that._ Definitely_ not a good thing.

"We've got an idea."

Ella didn't like the look on their faces.

*.*.*.*.*.*

"Truth or dare, Reed?"

"This is probably a really bad idea, but…dare." Travis grinned, like 'you'll be sooorry!'

"I dare you to…" he tapped his chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, a sly smile slid across his features, and Reed knew he was in big trouble. "I dare you to strip down to your boxers, barge into the Aphrodite cabin and sing a love song as loudly as you can." Reed's made a choking sound and everyone burst into hysterical laughter at the look on his face.

"You want me to _what_?" he cried incredulously, his face still screwed up. Giggles scattered throughout the group.

"You heard me," Travis said calmly, though his face was bright red from holding in laughter. Reed blinked disbelievingly.

"I know but…" he turned to Ella, who was nearly choking on her laughter. "You're not going along with this, are you?"

"Are you kidding?" she gasped, holding her chest. "This is pure gold, dude. I'll have blackmail on you for a lifetime!" then promptly collapsed in another fit of laughter. Everywhere he looked, people were nodding their head. They all enjoyed his misery and embarrassment! (He wasn't surprised; this was the Hermes cabin)

Desperately, he turned to his cousin. "C'mon, dude! Help me out here!"

Andrew smirked. "It's never been like you to turn down a challenge, Reed."

Reed's face hardened. He pulled himself up off his mattress. "Fine, you win. I'll do it." Cheers burst out throughout the group. Reed turned his head, glaring at Travis and Connor.

"I hate you."

"I know," Connor grinned.

"Remy's going to kill me,"

"I'll be sure to say something nice at your funeral, bro," Travis said, grinning for all he was worth. Reed grunted. He opened his mouth, as if to say something else, but Connor cut him off.

"C'mon, boy! Strip 'em!"

*.*.*.*.*

Sometime later, Reed stumbled through the door, breathing hard. He was quite a sight to see. His knee brace and shoulder bandage were covered with little doodles and cut pink hearts, his finger nails were painted a shimmery light pink, his light brown hair was a mess, and lipstick stains crowded his face. He threw himself onto the mattress (everyone chose to ignore his hardly masked gasp of pain as his injuries hit the bed), with a tired groan.

"My gods," He gasped into his pillow, "Those girls are like piranhas! Piranhas with lip gloss and designer shoes." He grunted and banged his head on his pillow a few times. The laughter was nearly defining. Andrew grinned at his cousin, his eyes teary from laughing too hard.

"On the bright side, it's Travis and Connor's turn!" He said cheerfully. Reed's head shot up, and the Stolls exchanged alarmed glances.

"Connor and Travis," he smirked slyly, an evil glint in his light blue eyes (even the blind one, which Travis found creepy). "Truth or Dare?"

__ "Um…Dare?" Connor squeaked.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Andrew grinned.

*.*.*.*.*

The rest of the night was a happy blur. They played more games, watched a couple movies, pigged out on illegal junk food, joked around and even pulled a few pranks. Reed had gotten the Stolls back pretty good, though what he dared them to do is between the Hermes cabin only ("What happens in the cabin, stays in the cabin," Andrew had reminded them). The morning was a series of tearful goodbyes all around. Ella sat at the top of the hill, now, feeling ready to cry. She wasn't ready to go home, not yet.

"Hey, munchkin," A voice said from behind. Ella turned to see Reed grinning up at her, a bag hanging off his good shoulder, the other hand in his pocket. Ella usually got angry when he called her that, but today, she didn't mind.

"Hey Reed," She said faintly, staring up at the sky. He took a seat next to her, under Thalia's Pine. Ella turned to look at him, to seem him staring off into to the distance. Curious, Ella followed his gaze to a minuscule Remy running towards a slender woman that looked just like her. Ella could see the love in his eyes as he watched her hug her mother tightly. Reed and Remy had spent the duration of the day making out in the forest, something Ella found disgusting and adorable at the same time. Remy turned and waved at Reed animatedly. Reed waved back, smiling faintly, and blew a kiss in her direction. She blew one back.

"So," he said after a while. "It's really the end. Time for reality."

"Yeah," she muttered. "What're your plans for the rest of the year?"

"Going back to school, for the first time since the accident. Senior year," he sighed and set his chin on his knees, which were pulled to his chest. "Gods, I'm so scared."

Ella wanted to say something then, she really did. But she couldn't think of anything to say. Reed never admitted to being scared about anything. At all. Instead, Ella stared off into space again, and spotted a figure running up the hill. She had Reed's soft brown hair and light blue eyes.

"Micah!" Katie Reed screamed. Reed stood, that same old grin plastered back on his face. The grin he gave so feely before the accident. Ella stood as well.

"Well, guess that's my cue." He started down the hill, then spun on his heel and wrapped her in tight hug she was not expecting.

"See ya next year, munchkin," he whispered. She gave him one last squeezed, and let go. He met his mom near the middle of the hill, and was nearly knocked over by the force of her hug. Ella grinned, shouldering her bag. Squinting, she spotted a familiar blue van parked in the grassy field. Smiling, Ella started down the hill.

She was ready to go home.

**This was fun to write**** Especially the dare. Till next time!**

**Love, **

**TUC**


End file.
